♪ >> this is dw news live from berlin, vote counting is underway in israel's fifth election my four years. the prime minister is fighting for his political survivor -- survival. coming up, brazil's outgoing president breaks his silence following his election defeat. bolsonaro says he will respect the constitution, but does not directly concede he lost to his left this rival.

a volunteer in ukraine carrying on his family's tradition of fighting russian invasion. >> my father fought against russia in the 1990's. i must continue this fight. >> he opposes the invasion but some of his countrymen, are fighting for russia. and an abstract painting by one of the world's most famous artist, that has been on display for decades, the only problem, it's been hanging upside down. ♪ i am nicole, for our viewers in the u.s., the united kingdom and around the world. polls have closed in israel's general election, the fifth and only for years. opinion surveys predicted another tight race.

the centrist caretaker, prime minister, is hoping to stay in power at the helm of a new coalition. the longtime conservative leader, is looking to make a comeback. israeli politics have been deadlocked for the last three years. and we can go live to our studio in jerusalem and our correspondent, has the latest exit poll results. what do the numbers tell us? >> well, i can tell you what we are getting in so far. the channel 12 1011 put the biggest parties first at the 22 seeds. the other party at 30 seats. i have distress stress the exit polls are done by -- by three major television channels.

they distributed. we are seeing and then we have to look at the blocks. we are getting from these television channels, that is the party. we are getting 22 seats. 30. we are looking into the blocks, what does that mean and it looks like there's an advantage for the -- led block, the right wing block also looks at parties a the far right parties that would get up to 61 seats. that is the mac number that we are talking about, 61 seeds out of the 120 seeds, that could enable if that coalition comes together in the coalition talks are only starting after.

these are just exit polls i could give, as it looks like a slight advantage to get to this point. nicole: we are seeing celebrations, what can we expect to happen next. >> i think we have to be careful, this is still a very -- very narrow. at the moment other channels are putting the outlook and we are seeing them celebrating as 62 even. again, these are exit polls also we have to be careful whether they will be because counting those now, whether this will be confirmed by the vote counting and we also will have to look at the other parties when this is coming in. it could eventually be that benjamin netanyahu was the longest-serving prime minister,

he was now in the opposition. he could be tasked to form the next coalition of government that is after the exit polls. the voting will start. and will go on overnight. sometimes in the past, he went to bed with one result of the exit polls and in the morning, there were surprises. at the moment, the advantages are in the right wing block with benjamin netanyahu. nicole: it is still early. with the latest from jerusalem, thank you. in brazil, the president bolsonaro signals he will not contest to his election defeat to lula de silva. in his first public address. bolsonaro addressed -- thank his supporters and said he would follow the constitution but the outgoing president made no mention of his loss to lula.

avoiding a direct concession. bolsonaro's chief of staff said they would now begin transitioning to lula's government. for more, but spring in our correspondent who is in rio de janeiro. what else did bolsonaro say? >> well, the interesting thing is what he didn't say. he didn't concede. he began thanking his supporters. he recalled the 58 million votes he got last sunday, but he didn't say i accept the result of last sunday's election. that was the phrase we were all expecting. he didn't mention lula. heating congratulate the president-elect. it was a short statement. he usually used to speak longer. then, he answered questions of

the press. after the statement he left the place. it was an unusual speech. right after his statement, one of his closest ministers took the mic and he said that the president authorized the beginning of a transition of power. it's true the statement that we really understand that he considered it. the president didn't do it. or if he did it, it was a particular way to do it. nicole: ever since the first election results came in, we have seen protests from bolsonaro's supporters. i thiss concession that is not really a concession, but somewhat a concession, coming out of his camp, is this likely to appease his supporters? >> it's too early to know the impact this statement will have on his supporters. but, because bolsonaro said the

protests were zero -- a result of an unfair election process. he backed peaceful protests. by the time hundreds roads are blocked on the country, even though the supreme court ordered the police to unblock roads in brazil, hundreds of people are taking to the streets. we will see in the coming hours what is going to happen. right now, it's too early to know the impact of the statement. nicole: jahan, ramirez, thank you so much. that will round up some other world news. exit polls from denmark's general election are indicating a lead but no majority for a coalition of left-wing parties. the prime minister is going to stay in office as 14 political

parties compete for seats. today's results will put the new centrist modernist party to be kingmakers. india's prime minister has visited the site of sunday's bridge colpse in t western state. he was deeply saddened and the families of the more than 130 victims will be compensated. iran has charged around 1000 people with unrest for their part in women's rights and antigovernment protests any of the accused now face massive trials. officials say several people have already been sentenced. nationwide demonstrations have continued despite crackdowns from security forces. activists a nearly 300 people have been killed. indictments will be the first major legal move, silencing dissent. earlier, a german filmmaker, writer and political activist told us these trials mark an escalation against the regime.

>> i think they clearly show how nervous the regime is getting. we have not had anything like this in e past. not this extreme. it shows, as well as how nervous the regime is, like for instance they have also raised the salary of their mercenaries 20% in the past two days. again, it shows how nervous they are. they are flying out more and more of their family members. they are flying in mercenaries from our countries. it's a big nervousness that show itself within the iranian regime. nicole: people are being indicted for crimes that carry the death penalty. what effect do you think this all will have on the protest? >> i think it will ignite the

protests once again. also, you can see the brutality in the street is getting worse. ght now, since in our -- an hour, the video has gone viral. 20 mercenaries are beating one man and in the end they just put the gun to him. th shoot him. something like this is,■ again it shows people are getting angry that the regime is getting more nervous and people are getting angrier and angrier about what is going on. nicole: the things you describe and the things we have seen over the past couple of weeks are even more legitimizing for the rulers in iran, how much has this weekend the islamic leadership? >> they are gone. nothing is going to be the same

again. it's going toe more brutal, more restrictive and people will need to protest against of them. the revolution will go on. this government wil not exist any longer. nicole: they won't go down without a fight? will they. where do you see the -- this going realistically? someone who has followed politics in iran for a long time? >> many things are remembered from the rolution 40 years ag i n't think it is going to be an easy path. i don't think it's going to be quick. i think it's -- there's no way back. nicole: how should the international community respond, particularly now, looking at these trials that a everything we are talking about today? >> very important question.

i think this revolution can only continue and exist because the international solidarity is as weak as it is. i think it could and it should be and it must be bigger. nobody wants to negotiate, nobody should negotiate with murderers or government who kills an 18-year-old girl, or the mother of little children or young girls or rapes girls in prison. girls sent messages, sent us anti-baby pills and the after pill because they are being raped. nobody in the rest of the world should continue talking to this government. all investors should be called back. all iranian investors -- should be sent back to their company. all sanctions that affect the

government and regime and mercenaries of the regime should be in effect right away. no negotiations. be as strict as you can with this regime. this is what the rest of the world can do. nicole: but it's not necessarily what we are seeing at this point. how do you value the response, the international response that these protests have caused until now? >> extremely, tremely grateful for the support, for the international support, within the people, within the community. going on the street and expressing loudly this sympathy for the people of iran. if this is what we need and we need much, much more of it. nicole: good speaking to you, again. >> thank you, very much. nicole: to ukraine where

russia's relentless bombardments mean power outages are becoming a daily reality for many ukrainians. president zelenskyy says airstrikes have damaged more than a third of the national energy infrastructure. authorities are imposing ruling power cuts to save energy while engineers carry out repairs. >> alayna and her husband are getting used to life, with frequent blackouts. the family who live on the outskirts of kyiv have stopped counting how often this has happened over the last few weeks. with russia increasing its assault on the energy infrastructure, the power cuts are getting longer and more frequent. >> this is the worst. we can't stay with no water for some time, we can stay with having no hot food for sometime. but with no telephones, it's a

bit uncomfortable. >> energy companies are published lead daily schedules of planned lockouts to help. there struggling to stay on the grid. outages here can last a day. he and the family have decided to take a trip away to escape. as energy facilities like this hydroelectric dam in separate check that -- zaporizhia that russia is targeting, they have targeted 40% of the energy infrastructure of the country. you can see the impact on civilian life here in a hospital. this doctor needing a headlamp to look at an x-ray. in the face of russia's aggression there is light among the darkness. this group of volunteers in key --kyiv many parents and children

making candles dissent on the front line -- to send on the front line. they have already delivered more than 3000 candles to soldiers in the trenches. >> the candles can be used to dry up a trench, cook food which is important, boil some water and warm up. these cans come with a cover so you can close them, throw them into boiling water and put them under your coat. you can do this many times. >> for now, the spirit of these ukrainians remain strong. for how long? as energy crisis deepens, challenging everyday life and hope for the future. nicole: it's not only russians and ukrainians involved in the war. soldiers from various countries are fighting on both sides. some come from russia's chechnya republic.

they sent troops to the russians, but fighting alongside bikini and -- ukraine enforces as a chechnya republic resisting. >> storming a building. this is a training session for new recruits. a chechen volunteer group, fighting for ukraine. they are the first to go into newly one territory, often. >> our job is to storm and clear the place. after that, the other groups come in and do their job. >> he was born in chechnya but grew up in europe. he has always dreamed of

fighting against russia. after putin annexed crimea and installed proxies in the donbass, he moved to ukraine. he joined the battalion that bears the color of chechnya and independence -- independence. >> this has been going on for generations. my father fought against russia in the first and second chechen wars. i must continue this fight. >> last month the battalion was among the first to enter the town. as the chechnya and volunteers five ukraine, many consider it part of their greater battle against russia. >> we want to go home. we to liberate our country. after ukraine, we will go home.

>> these are anti-russian chechens. but there are chechens fighting on the other side. militias that rule chechnya with a iron fist. the battalion is proud of its roots, but new recruits didn't have to be chechen. ukrainians can join too. they don't get official training or payment the battalion relies on payment cash donations and enthusiasm. >> you can try to learn a lot about war. but what counts is to make practical use of it. when the moment of combat comes, some people falter psychologically or otherwise. that's why the most important thing is to have strong motivation, a strong idea.

>> the group is away from the front, waiting for new instructions, preparing to return. chechens and ukrainians, fighting a common cause. nicole: germany's foreign minister wants berlin to take a harder line on china's human rights record. he was speaking before chancellor olaf scholz heads to beijing on a trade mission. they say china must understand the rule of law as the foundations of international cooperation. in a recent controversy, a company owned by the chinese government was allowed to buy a stake in the port of hamburg. let's get more from dw political correspondent. what you make of these comments by baerbock, there seems to be a lot of disagreement with the german coalition government when

it comes to china. >> absolutely. there was not just criticism about this deal, they are just -- there are still disagreement about this trade deal that allows china to buy a stake of the port terminal in hamburg. a deal that some see as a gift of the german chancellor was also mayor of the city of years ago, bringing to beijing for this trip he is doing to china in a few more days. although government spokesperson denied the decision. the decision had any connection with the chancellor's upcoming trip. it faced strong government opposition with six ministries coming out against the deal. they went through it anyway. the chancellor is rejecting criticism while downplaying risk that this -- of what this can mean. the fact that the chancellor's taking a business delegation with him on this trip to china, is seen with suspicion. it looks like a continuation of

the china policy from the era of his predisaster, which focused on these economic developments. he is facing the questions of how it will position itself in the conflict with the u.s., its most important partner in terms of security and china, it's most trading -- important trading partner. nicole: olaf scholz promise to take a stuffer -- a tougher stance on beijing. how credible is this claim after he pushed through the hamburg container terminal deal? >> there are many people who are disappointed, without the german chancellor would take a tougher stance. when we look at china. especially after the experience germany did with its dependency with russia. many are demanding berlin to take a stance. especially after we look at what happened with russia, many are saying the government should be especially careful with who will feel the gap -- fill the gap.

it's not just the deal of the port in hamburg, but also the timing of the trip, that have raised eyebrows within the government coalition. scholz will be the first western leader to visit xi jinping, since his reelection. that saw him expanding his authority more. this visit to beijing can be seen as a confirmation for the policies by the chinese leader. there were many who even asked scholz to not go to china now and to cancel his trip. nicole: some of those are human rights groups who will have -- who have been discussing his upcoming trip. >> they said the human rights should it take center stage. it should not just be mentioned. there was a press conference today by several german ngos ahead of the trip. their main message was, this is not the time for business, asking the chancellor to address human rights violations when it comes to china and not just

looking at the economic partnership at this crucial time. germany is looking for new partnerships. nicole: many thanks. many people are confused by abstract art because they don't really know what they're looking at it turns out even experts can get it wrong sometimes. a work by the dutch painter has probably been hanging upside down for more than 70 years and no one even noticed until now. >> strips of colored tape on a canvas, this is how art lovers know it. but the german curator says artist pete mondrian wanted his work to look like this. see a difference? >> it is actually working incredibly well when he turned it upside down suddenly it has more plasticity. more depth. >> if this is the right way, why has it been displayed like this

since 1945, year after the artists death? that is not so clear. what is clear, an old photo the curator found of the artist studio shows the work well, like this. >> at first you don't believe your own eyes. >> the evidence adds up. mondrian is believed to have applied the tape from the top of the canvas downward. that would mean this way is definitely wrong. what now? >> we are not going to turn it around. that's not possible for various reasons. above all, due to conservation reasons, because these are adhesive strips, and these adhesive strips have been hanging in the same direction for 77 years. that means the material's works against it. if we flipped around, the tape might come loose and we would no longer have the beautiful picture. >> better picture upside down than not at all. nicole: a reminder of our top

stories today. exit polls in israel's fifth election in just four years put former prime minister benjamin netanyahu ahead of the current prime and astir lapit -- current prime minister lapid. bolsonaro says he will respect the constitution but does not direct he could -- lost to his rival. stay with us after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. up to see you then. -- hope to see you then. ♪

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>> this is live from paris. this is our top story. voting is drawn to a close in israel where people have been casting their ballots in the fifth election in the space of less than years. blas, -- we will ask will this break the political deadlock and paved the way for netanyahu to return to the forefront of voters minds? ♪